Meet Today’s Birds!

April 22, 2024-Lots of raptors have been passing over my house this past week! I have seen them in my birding outings too. Look up because we are entering prime-time viewing for vultures, hawks, kestrels, eagles and more. I have seen lots of Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks, and Broad-winged Hawks in Wilbraham and Longmeadow. Some of these hawks stay here year-round but they are everywhere now. The Turkey and Black Vultures and Ospreys are early migrants so you have likely seen them too. Four Broad-winged Hawks flew over my yard last week. I saw Northern Harriers and Bald Eagles in Northampton and Longmeadow. Our mated pair of Bald Eagles in Fannie Stebbins has 2 babies now, though I only got to see someone else’s picture of them recently. You can hear 1 of the 2 Red-shouldered Hawks hanging around my woods below. It has been so dark and gloomy that it is hard to get some good shots so let’s home for sunshine!

Scroll down to see earlier posts-lots of neat birds!

April 20th-I actually saw a Green Heron in the small stream on Soule Road that leads into Sawmill Pond! I am not sure who was more surprised-me or him!

March 27th-Eastern Phoebes are here! I love these cute little birds that love to say their own name! I recorded this bird in Monson today. I did not have my camera with me so I included some picture of local Eastern Phobes from last year so you can look AND listen for these harbingers of spring!

March 2nd-I have seen SO many hawks lately that I decided to share THIS WEEK’S HAWKS, including the one I saw today! Last week, I went birding with my friend Lori in South Windsor. It was SO windy near the river. We didn’t see many birds, but did catch the gorgeous Red-tailed below sheltering in a tree on Feb 26th. On the 27th, I had 2 Red-tailed in my trees and could only get the shot you see below through the window. Then, when I was walking my grand-puppy Rosie in Monson that morning, I saw the resident Red-shouldered Hawk in the tree in the field across from the cemetery. He was back on March 1st and we got a close-up view of this beauty hunting on the ground! I also got a WAY TOO close up view of the Sharp-shinned you see as it was stalking my bird feeders in Wilbraham for 2 days. It came right up to my deck, like a was a drive-thru! Luckily, the Red-tailed you see flying in the picture below chased away the Sharpie on the 1st-at least for a while. You can see a picture of another sharpie that got one of my flickers last year if you scroll to older posts below. On March 2nd, I saw the Red-shouldered you see below AND another hawk in East Longmeadow on my way to Fannie Stebbins today. The last picture was a Red-tailed I saw on Main Street in Wilbraham. She had just watched her mate get killed by a car-broke my heart. And these were just the ones I got pictures of! You can see videos of my sharpie on my social media pages. Go birding to see your own!

September 15th-This week is predicted to be the best opportunity to see migrating hawks. You can read about the hawks we can see locally on my blog page. Today, specifically, the northerly winds are blowing steadily. More experienced birders say it is a great day to see the Broad-winged Hawks as they will ride the wind on the southerly migration. I have seen a kettle (group of hawks) of 4 plus 5 other hawks in town so far today. Yesterday, I went to the top of Skinner Mtn in Hadley to do a Hawk Watch. Saw a couple hawks and an eagle but today is forecasted to be much better viewing. Warblers are on the move as well. I will share more later. Get thee to a mountain top if you are a raptor fan!

July 6th-Meet today’s Eastern Bluebird Fledgling! There is still at least one still in the nest!

June 21st-I was so lucky to arrive during lunchtime for this beautiful Great Blue Heron family at Fannie Stebbins Wildlife Refuge in Longmeadow! AND a Tree Swallow decided to photo bomb!

May 2nd-my first Gray Catbird showed up today! I love listening to their calls-no mistaking where their name comes from LOL! These birds are pretty friendly once they get used to you. Today’s visitor was camera shy so here are a couple shots so you can see what they look like! I also included some audio from last spring. The “cat call” is from my yard and the song is from Sawmill Pond-both in June.

Today-April 26th is pretty gray and drizzly looking in our area, but I did have some beautiful Yellow-rumped Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Blue-headed Vireos passing through my yard in Wilbraham this morning (and last few days). No spectacular shots of these 3 today due to the drizzle, so I shared some shots from my yard on different days of these 3 so you know what to look for! Go out and watch before you miss your chance! The audios below are from this week. You can hear see more pics and hear the Ruby-crowned Kinglet on my last post-see the Blogs page!

April 3rd-Today was an amazing day in my Wilbraham neighborhood! I got to hear 2 Barred Owls calling out to each other in Fountain Park. The first track is louder as that is the owl that was closest. Then, I heard a second call and started recording again but you need to listen close! I also included some pics and audio from the birds at Sawmill today as I saw 2 Great Blue Herons and I heard all the birds I just blogged about on my Robin’s Nest Page-check it out! (Read the Spring Migrants-Quick Intro #1 if you missed it!) AND, I saw bear tracks in Fountain Park….very glad I did NOT see the bear! This picture of the Barred Owl is from my yard 3 years ago. I haven’t seen another one yet which I why I was hunting in the park with the bear LOL!

March 31st-I finally found the Great Blue Heron Rookery with the help of my son. Yesterday, I heard a Great Horned Owl there but didn’t have time to search for him. Only saw 1 heron. I went back today by myself. It was foggy and kind of creepy and I heard a lot of heron calls but only saw this headless one LOL! Lots of Eastern Phoebes and Bluebirds using the houses!

March 24th-Today, I had a very quick visit from an immature Sharp-shinned Hawk. I think I have more than my share of these hawks that are supposed to be migrants for the most part…and somewhat rare to boot! Here is a picture of the adult that was in my yard a few times about a month ago so you can compare them!

March 22nd-Busy day today! Just had time to stop at Sevey Park for a 15 minute report. So glad I did as I saw my FOY (bird lingo for first of the year LOL) Eastern Phoebe. I could only catch a little audio because the traffic was too loud! Compare it to yesterday’s Chickadee!

March 20th-First day of Spring!!! So, one of the first signs of spring is hearing the Black-capped Chickadee-our Massachusetts state bird-SING! As if on cue, one of my Chickadees belted out his tune to attract the ladies at 8:37am today!

March 18th-Today, I had the sweetest encounter with a Mute Swan! Click to watch it and see the beautiful reflections. The swan even gives me the side eye!https://www.tiktok.com/@robinsbirds2022/video/7076637737851358506?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7075763619375793707

March 13th-I saw 2 Killdeers at Minnechaug for the first time today! They are fun to watch as they look like little Road Runners! However, this makes them tricky to photograph!

March 11-had 7 Turkey Vultures basking in the early morning sun today!

March 10th snowbirds…..but not Juncos!

March 9th-I saw Turkey Vultures everywhere today! I also saw cute Eastern Bluebirds, a Red-tailed Hawk, Red-wings galore and lots of birds in my nest, including a sweet Carolina Wren and the Juncos that always show up in a snowstorm!

March 8th-Today’s birds were trying to hang on in the wind!

January 21, 2022
I had a couple of photogenic visitors that posed for me today in my Wilbraham yard!

January 22, 2022

Today was a day for hawks-saw 7! The 2 Red-tailed were in Ludlow and the Red-shouldered was on Rochford in Wilbraham. They were NOT as impressed with me as I was with them!

The big storm on January 29th! The feeders were full ALL day! Sometimes, the birds were blown away.

January 30th-Here comes the sun my little darlings! They are very grateful!

January 31st-walked through my neighborhood. Saw 3 hawks-2 Red-shouldered on Longview St and a Red-tailed on Tinkham Rd. There were also 2 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers which was rather amazing-one on Longview and one on Rochford!

My yard has been a bit of a dangerous place for my birds these past 2 days. I have had a lot of hawks that have left me feeling uncertain as to who to feel sorry for. I get the whole circle of life thing. I know that hawks are beautiful creatures that need to eat too. I just wish they would stop by, and let me photograph them and then….go eat someone else’s birds…..just sayin. So, you can see the beautiful Sharp-shinned Hawk (SSH) below. She (I believe) came on February 10th and got what looks to be 1 of my Downy or Hairy Woodpeckers. Then, a large hawk flew quickly after this SSH. I couldn’t get a good shot. Merlin was picking up audio of Red-shouldered and Red-tailed as well as a Merlin and Peregrine Falcon. The hawks are more likely as they are common visitors near Soule rd.

A couple hours later, this SSH returned and let me take lots of shots. (The photo of her kill was through the window-best I could get. But, when she returned, she was not afraid of me at all outside.) Then, an obvious Red-tailed Hawk returned and was circling among the trees for a while, searching for the SSH I suspect. Today, the SSH returned to perch in the same tree. She went after a some House Sparrows in a bush and missed. I went back inside. I haven’t seen my Bluebirds return yet and my other song birds are very scarce. The squirrels are not afraid at all as I suspect they know they are too big for this little lady. It has been real, but it is time for her to visit someone else now.

Today, I decided to take a walk down Soule and check out Sawmill. Huge tree down in path so didn’t get far. But, I cannot believe the variety of birds and 3 hawks I saw in a half mile! I also saw a Golden-crowned Kinglet and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and a Great Blue Heron! Maybe you will see some of these if you participate in the Big Backyard Bird Count this week. The link with details for this is on my Facebook page. To see ALL the birds I logged on this half-mile each way, check out my eBird report on Robin’s Nest page!

I stopped by Bruers Pond in Sevey Park at just the right moment today to see about 100 Mallards glide in. So many ducks….so little water. February 17th

February 21st-last day of Big Backyard Bird Count! I am off and counting. I started out with a Brown Creeper today. I did not have my camera so this sound and audio are not from this morning. But, you can look for this bird and listen for this sound! You can check eBird for other sounds too. The Brown Creeper has amazing camouflage ability so you need to look carefully. They tend to scurry around the bark on the upper third of the tree trunks! This audio is from July, near Sawmill, in Wilbraham. It has some other birds too. The high-pitched whistle sound that repeats is the Creeper.

Feb 22-Today, I walked down Soule Rd. and then Deepwood Drive, in Wilbraham and then I went to Laughing Brook in Hampden. I was on Deepwood Drive when I heard one of the beautiful songs that an Eastern Song Sparrow sings! I started recording for you while I looked around to see who was serenading me. This handsome guy was on top of the roof! (smaller lens-sorry) If this is your roof on Deepwood, open your window tomorrow and enjoy! This track also has a Chickadee, a Mourning Dove, a White-breasted Nuthatch and a Tufted Titmouse letting us know they are there! Check out the Hampden page to hear the Belted Kingfisher!

February 23rd-Today’s bird was the Merganser. I saw a Hooded Merganser Couple and Common Merganser at Fannie Stebbins today-SO CUTE! 🙂

February 26th-Meet some of today’s birds! https://youtu.be/gx9CCTRd7Ik

Feb 27th-All the usual suspects today with an added Brown-headed Cowbird that was singing but not showing itself. But, the birds were so pretty in the sunlight-especially this female Northern Cardinal with her striking spring colors!

February 28th! Lots of colors today, but orange wins for color of the day! All these birds visited today. I am using an earlier photo of the Red-bellied as he wouldn’t come out of the trees today! The hawk came back 3 times already.

Happy March 1st everyone! Someday, when we all look back on what was happening in the world today, at least I will remember it as a sad day, full of unnecessary violence and fear. When I watch and listen to my birds, I get to zone out and focus on something beautiful for a while. I decided we could work on bird sounds today because I caught some great audio. But, once you do start to match the bird sounds to the actual birds, it opens up a whole new world of bird watching! You hear them, and then you know what to look for! So, here is 12 minutes and 25 seconds of beautiful bird sounds for you. Get a piece of paper and a pen and try to id the sounds as you listen. Then, you can check my Practice Identifying Local Birds page to see how well you did. Maybe, you even hear one that Merlin and I both missed!? I will also post my eBird report on Robin’s Nest page, and you will see that there were some birds not making sounds or not visiting during these 12 minutes! Enjoy the distraction!

March 4th-I was traveling over the mountain when this beauty caught my eye! To the nice lady who asked what the bird was-yes-it is a Red-tailed Hawk! I saw another one close by, possibly the mate. It flew off, but I was able to get a shot of the red tail and sharp talons!

March 5th-there were so many great birds today that it was hard to choose which ones to show you! I decided to focus on the magnificent Bald Eagle I saw working on his nest at Fannie Stebbins Wildlife Refuge in Longmeadow.

March 6th was a great day at Fannie again! Here you can watch the Ring-necked ducks diving and flying in these videos! Yesterday, I saw one catch a fish! Check out the picture in the Longmeadow page. If you look carefully in the diving video, you will see the Bald Eagle sitting on top of the dead tree.